East Asia and Pacific remains the world’s growth engine despite a challenging external environment, with developing economies growing by 7.2% in 2013. The proportion of people living in poverty in the region has steadily declined—less than 10% of the population lives on $1.25 a day—but much more needs to be done as there are still close to half a billion people living on $2 a day.
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Move paves way for institutional investors to help fill infrastructure gaps in developing world: US$1 trillion a year in extra investment needed through 2020.WASHINGTON, October 9, 2014— The heads of ... Show More +some of the world’s largest asset management and private equity firms, pension and insurance funds, and commercial banks are today joining multilateral development institutions and donor nations to work as partners in a new Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) that has the potential to unlock billions of dollars for infrastructure in the developing world.World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said the presence of a broad range of institutional investors at the signing to launch the GIF sent a powerful message, with the most recent data showing that private infrastructure investment in emerging markets and developing economies dropped from US$186 billion in 2012 to $150 billion last year. “We have several trillions of dollars in assets represented today looking for long-term, sustainable and stable investments,” said Kim. “In leveraging those resources, our partnership offers great promise for tackling the massive infrastructure deficit in developing economies and emerging markets, which is one of the fundamental bottlenecks to reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity.”“The real challenge is not a matter of money but a lack of bankable projects – a sufficient supply of commercially viable and sustainable infrastructure investments.”Developing countries now spend about US$1 trillion a year on infrastructure, but maintaining current growth rates and meeting future demands would require investment of at least an estimated additional US$1 trillion a year through to 2020.Kim said the GIF was being designed to tap into expertise from within and outside of the Bank Group to deliver complex public-private infrastructure projects that no single institution could address on its own.“The GIF is also being created to complement existing project preparation facilities in partner institutions across the globe. The multilateral development banks here represent that commitment to work together on behalf of our shared client countries, to bring together our resources, experience and our financing instruments.”Australian Treasurer and Chair of the G20 Finance Track Joe Hockey welcomed the launch of the GIF saying it complemented the work the G20 is doing to boost infrastructure investment."We all recognise that investment in emerging markets and developing economies will expand access to basic services and raise living standards. It also helps to underpin economic growth. The G20 looks forward to working closely with the World Bank Group and other multilateral development banks on such vital initiatives,” he said.The President of the European Investment Bank, Werner Hoyer, commented: "We welcome the proposed collaboration of the Multilateral Development Banks and the private sector and capital market institutions on GIF as it will increase the resources available to prepare major infrastructure projects. It will also strengthen market investment in key infrastructure sectors and countries where such resources are lacking. What we need are viable, bankable and innovative projects which provide added value for investment and modernising the economy.”“We know that simply increasing the amount invested in infrastructure may not deliver on the potential to foster strong, sustainable and balanced growth. A focus on the quality of infrastructure is vital,” said World Bank Group Managing Director and CFO, Bertrand Badre.He said the GIF would begin operations later this year in a pilot phase to “road test” new models to deliver complex public-private infrastructure in low and middle income countries. The key focus would be on climate friendly investments as well as ventures to bolster trade.Work has already started on a pipeline selection process and the GIF is talking to partners and beneficiary countries about several projects with the potential to transform developing economies, boost job creation, and improve the lives of poor people. President Kim, along with Australian Treasurer, Joe Hockey and President of the EIB, Werner Hoyer, will be signing up to the GIF at a ceremony later on Thursday. Below are other partners, as well as prospective partners, signing up to the GIF at the ceremony:Aldwych Holdings LimitedAmundi Asset ManagementAsian Development Bank (ADB)Government of AustraliaAXA SABLACKROCK Financial Management IncCaisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec (la Caisse)Government of CanadaCitibank, N.A.DBS Bank Ltd.Endeavor Energy Holdings LLCEuropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)European Investment Bank (EIB)HSBC Bank Plc.Institute of International Finance (IIF)Islamic Development Bank (ISDB)Government of JapanJapan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)Macquarie Group, Ltd Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA)Government of SingaporeStandard BankStandard Chartered BankSwiss Re LtdWorld Pension CouncilWorld Bank Group Show Less -

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2014 – The International Comparison Program (ICP) released new data today showing that the world economy produced goods and services worth over $90 trillion in 2011, and that alm... Show More +ost half of the world’s total output came from low and middle income countries.Under the authority of the United Nations Statistical Commission, the 2011 round of ICP covered 199 economies - the most extensive effort to measure Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) across countries ever. ICP 2011 estimates benefited from a number of methodological improvements over past efforts to calculate PPPs.The ICP’s principal outputs are PPPs for 2011 and estimates of PPP-based gross domestic product (GDP) and its major components in aggregate and per capita terms. When converting national economic measures (e.g. GDP), into a common currency, PPPs are a more direct measure of what money can buy than exchange rates.ICP implementation was led and coordinated by the ICP Global Office, hosted by the World Bank, in partnership with regional agencies overseeing activities in eight geographic regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Latin America, the Caribbean, Western Asia, Pacific Islands, and the countries of the regular PPP program managed by the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In addition, two “singleton” economies, Georgia and Iran, participated in bilateral exercises with partner economies, without being part of any regional comparisons.Major findings:Six of the world’s twelve largest economies were in the middle income category (based on the World Bank’s definition). When combined, the twelve largest economies account for two-thirds of the world economy, and 59 percent of the world population.The PPP-based world GDP amounted to $90,647 billion, compared to $70,294 billion measured by exchange rates.Middle income economies’ share of global GDP is 48 percent when using PPPs and 32 percent when using exchange rates.Low income economies, as a share of world GDP were more than two times larger based on PPPs than respective exchange rate shares in 2011. Yet, these economies accounted for only 1.5 percent of the global economy, but nearly 11 percent of the world population.Roughly twenty-eight percent of the world’s population lives in economies with GDP per capita expenditures above the $13,460 world average and 72 percent are below that average.The approximate median yearly per capita expenditures for the world – at $10,057 – means that half of the global population has per capita expenditures above that amount and half below.Which are the largest economies?The six largest middle income economies – China, India, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico – account for 32.3 percent of world GDP, whereas the 6 largest high income economies – United States, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, and Italy – account for 32.9 percent. Asia and the Pacific, including China and India, accounts for 30 percent of world GDP, Eurostat-OECD 54 percent, Latin America 5.5 percent (excluding Mexico, which participates in the OECD and Argentina, which did not participate in the ICP 2011), Africa and Western Asia about 4.5 percent each.China and India make up two-thirds of the Asia and the Pacific economy, excluding Japan and South Korea, which are part of the OECD comparison.Russia accounts for more than 70 percent of the CIS, and Brazil for 56 percent of Latin America. South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria account for about half of the African economy.Which countries are the most expensive?The Price Level Index (PLI) is the ratio of a PPP to a corresponding exchange rate. An index over 100 means prices are higher on average than in the world, and one less than 100 means prices are relatively lower.The most expensive economies in GDP terms are Switzerland, Norway, Bermuda, Australia and Denmark, with indices ranging from 210 to 185. The United States ranked 25th in the world, lower than most other high-income economies, including France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.23 economies are showing a PLI of 50 or below. The cheapest economies are Egypt, Pakistan, Myanmar, Ethiopia and Lao People's Democratic Republic, with indices ranging from 35 to 40.Which countries are the richest and poorest in per capita terms?The five economies with the highest GDP per capita are Qatar, Macao SAR, China,, Luxembourg, Kuwait, and Brunei. The first two economies have more than $100,000 per capita.Eleven economies have more than $50,000 per capita, while they collectively account for less than 0.6 percent of the world’s population. The United States has the 12th highest GDP per capita.Eight economies – Malawi, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Niger, Burundi, Congo, Dem. Rep., Comoros and Liberia – have a GDP per capita of less than $1,000.Which countries devote the most spending that directly benefit individuals?A general measure of material well-being of each economy’s population is measured better by actual individual consumption per capita – a measure of all expenditures in the economy that directly benefit individuals – rather than by GDP per capita. By this measure, the five economies with highest actual individual consumption per capita are Bermuda, United States, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong SAR, China, and Luxembourg, respectively.The world average actual individual consumption per capita is approximately $8,647.Investment expendituresAt 27 percent, China now has the largest share of the world’s expenditure for investment (gross fixed capital formation); followed by the United States at 13 percent.India, Japan and Indonesia follow with 7 percent, 4 percent, and 3 percent, respectively.China and India account for about 80 percent of investment expenditures in the Asia and the Pacific region. Russia accounts for 77 percent of CIS, Brazil for 61 percent of Latin America and Saudi Arabia for 40 percent of Western Asia.Limitations in the use of the dataPPPs are statistical estimates. Like all statistics they are subject to sampling errors, measurement errors, and errors of classification. Therefore, they should be treated as approximations to true values. Because of the complexity of the process used to collect the data and calculate the PPPs, it is not possible to directly estimate their margins of error. Therefore, small differences in the estimated values between economies should not be considered significant.PPPs should not be used as indicators of the under- or overvaluation of currencies. They do not inform what exchange rates “should be”. PPPs do not reflect the demand for currencies as a medium of exchange, speculative investment, or official reserves.The ICP is designed to compare levels of economic activity across economies, expressed in a common currency, in a particular benchmark year. As such, PPP-based expenditures are not directly comparable with the 2005 ICP round estimates because they are based on two different price levels. In addition, some of the economies participating in one of these comparisons were not in the other comparison. A small number of economies moved from one region to another, and most importantly, some significant improvements in methodology were implemented in ICP 2011.The ICP should not be used to compare changes in an economy’s PPP-based GDP over time. Experience has shown that sizeable discrepancies can arise between extrapolated estimates and a new benchmark, even when they are only a couple of years apart. The gap between the latest ICP rounds was six years, which has resulted in some very large differences for many economies between the extrapolated PPP-based expenditures for 2011 and the benchmark PPP-based expenditures that are available from ICP 2011. Show Less -

Question on a World Bank infrastructure fund. DR. KIM: And I would just add that this is at the very early stages of the development of this fund. But I as I said during my remarks, it is very i... Show More +mportant to note that the Deputy Prime Minister has been involved in many discussions at the World Bank in precisely this issue.The issue is the access to long-term financing for infrastructure for emerging market economies. And this has been an issue for Korea for many years and this is a problem that Korea has solved in a very successful manner. So we feel very fortunate to have as our counterpart, as our Governor, the Deputy Prime Minister who understands these issues in all their complexities. Question on the state of Korean education today. DR. KIM: I think one of the things I will be talking about this afternoon is about the nature of the Korean education system. One of the things I think is extremely important about this government is that there is a tremendous emphasis on the creative drive, on making sure that innovators are nurtured. And that the future economic growth is assured. One of the questions that Korea has to ask is: At what price is the educational system, especially going to school from 8 in the morning to 11 at night, is that really the best way to assure the future?I have spoken with the Deputy Prime Minister and we all know this is not an optimal system; there are better ways of doing it. I think there are things that Korea has to ask itself about how to organize its education system, and how to assure that the incredible creativity of the Korean people is truly nurtured. Now having said that, Korea is No. 4 in the world in terms of patents and No. 5 in the world is Germany, and Korea has three times more patents than Germany, for a smaller country. If you look at the entering scores of students, entering thesis scores and entering achievement scores, entering the workforce, and compare them with the people who are leaving the workforce, the differential is so much higher; it is the highest in the world. So there are tremendous positives here in Korea. But I think that the conversation now has to be, how will Korea maintain the momentum in the future and how it will do so by nurturing the extraordinary creativity of its young people? This is a question that is very current right now for Korea. Show Less -

This paper investigates the adverse
effects of oil price volatility on economic activity and the
extent to which countries can hedge against such effects by
using r... Show More +enewable energy. By considering the Realized
Volatility of oil prices, rather than following the standard
approach of considering oil price shocks in levels, the
effects of factor price uncertainty on economic activity are
analyzed. Sample countries represent developed and
developing, oil importing and exporting and
service/industry-based economies (United States, Japan,
Germany, South Korea, India, and Malaysia) and thus
complement the standard literature's analysis of
Western OECD countries. In a vector auto-regressive setting,
Granger causality tests, impulse response functions, and
variance decompositions show that oil price volatility has
more-adverse effects in all sample countries than oil price
shocks alone can explain. The paper finds that the
sensitivity to oil price volatility varies widely across
countries and discusses various factors which may determine
the level of sensitivity (such as sectoral composition and
the energy mix). This implies that the standard approach of
solely considering net oil importer-exporter status is not
sufficient. Simulations of volatility shocks in hypothetical
energy mixes (with increased renewable shares) illustrate
the potential economic benefits resulting from efforts to
disconnect the macroeconomy from volatile commodity markets.
It is concluded that expanding renewable energy can in
principle reduce an economy's vulnerability to oil
price volatility, but a country-specific analysis would be
necessary to identify concrete policy measures. Overall, the
paper provides an additional rationale for reducing exposure
and vulnerability to oil price volatility for the sake of
economic growth. Show Less -

The technology is especially useful in areas where conflicts, strife, or wars make it difficult to gather data, and it can provide wide-scale observations that cross country borders. A single satellit... Show More +e pass can take a high definition image of the entire Mozambique Channel in a matter of seconds. “One of the most difficult tasks facing developing countries is how to monitor large areas with limited resources,” said Zoubida Allaoua, a director in the Bank’s Sustainable Development Network. “The use of satellite technology in our work is ground breaking in its ability to track information across hundreds of thousands of kilometers, in a manner that’s highly reliable and cost effective but not intrusive.”The partnership’s maritime surveillance system, designed for countries of the Mozambique Channel, detected 38 oil spills over a five-month period, providing authorities with enough real-time information to investigate suspected polluters.In São Tome and Principe, eoworld mapping activities and coastline monitoring focused local authorities and the communities on climate adaptation, providing important data for plans to locate critical infrastructure and housing in less vulnerable sites. Arlindo de Ceita Carvalho, São Tome and Principe’s general director of environment, said the satellite mapping information is extremely valuable in efforts to counter coastal erosion and mitigate the effects of climate change.“These products serve as a baseline and communication tool for the participatory risk planning with local communities,’ he said.Satellite monitoring of the Lake Titicaca Basin, a UNESCO heritage site straddling the border of Bolivia and Peru, showed a 7 percent decrease in the size of the lake between 2003 and 2010, documenting for the first time the unprecedented degradation of the protected wetlands. “This is the only existing land cover dataset of this specific area in Boliva/Peru in more than 10 years, and definitely the first one with 5 meter spatial resolution,” said Marco Otto, chairman of climatology at the Technical University in Berlin. “It is an invaluable resource for detailed research on vegetation dynamics and land cover change within this data sparse region, which faces many future challenges in climate and resource management.”ESA will launch a fleet of 20 new satellites by the end of the decade, making sure Earth observation data will be available for the next 20 years. “The new ESA missions will be part of the biggest Earth observation program ever developed,” said Maurice Borgeaud, head of ESA's Department of Science Applications and Future Technologies Department. "And it will be supported by a free and open data policy.” And that’s good news for the World Bank/ESA partnership, where a recent report shows great potential for using Earth observation data to help developing countries. Some of the success stories include: Tracking land movement in Jakarta: Satellites accurately identified land movement trends in Jakarta and other cities at an unprecedented level of detail and accuracy. In Jakarta, pumping water from deep wells is causing the land to sink by as much as 10 cm a year. The information generated by the satellites helps manage ground water extraction (the main cause of the sinking land) and supports regular monitoring of high-rise buildings and coastal defense infrastructure. Gathering forest data in Liberia: Liberian authorities have struggled for years to get an accurate assessment of the country’s forest base. By 2004, most of the existing forest maps were outdated or fragmented and couldn’t provide a complete picture of the current forest inventory. The eoworld team used state-of-the-art satellite techniques to provide comprehensive land use mapping and forest baselines. As a result, the Liberian government now has the most accurate assessment of deforestation trends to date, and it is using the data to improve forest management and identify options for national land use reform.Mapping water in Zambia: Rural communities in Zambia rely on small reservoirs for water, but incomplete existing inventories of these small water bodies made it difficult for local authorities to comprehensively manage resources. The eoworld project used remote sensing to identify and map small reservoirs in Zambia’s southern province and to provide information to assess water quality in Lake Malawi and erosion patterns along Malawi’s Shire River Basin.The second phase of the ESA/World Bank partnership triples the size of technical assistance and expands the program beyond the initial technology demonstrations to mainstream the use of Earth observation in the developing world. Show Less -

This paper analyzes annual accounting
data for a sample of 5,000 publicly traded manufacturing
firms from Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and the United
Kingdom. The... Show More + analysis uses data from 1997 to 2011 and finds
an increasing trend of excess savings (defined as the
difference between gross saving and capital formation) and a
gradual decline of gross capital formation. This trend is
accompanied by a steady deleveraging process and a decrease
in the share of operating assets in total assets. This
process is more acute among the more credit constrained, the
more volatile, and the less dynamic firms. Show Less -

The newly signed grant compliments the World Bank’s support to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of customs administration in Lao PDR through simplification and automation of customs processe... Show More +s and procedures.Vientiane, June 14, 2013 – The Vice Minister of Finance of Lao People’s Democratic Republic, H.E. Santiphab Phomvihane and the World Bank Country Manager for Lao PDR Keiko Miwa, signed today a grant agreement in the amount of US$6.5 million to further support the Customs and Trade Facilitation Project in Lao PDR. The grant builds on the achievements of the original International Development Association (IDA) grant of US$6 million, which was approved in 2008.“This additional financing grant is timely. It will contribute to further improvement of customs administration and efficiency of customs processes in Lao PDR”, said Mr. Santiphab Phomvihane. “The project supports Government objectives in achieving high rate of economic growth that can translate into meaningful poverty reduction and improvements in transparency and accountability.”The objective of the Customs and Trade Facilitation Project is to provide support in key areas that are designed to ensure full and effective implementation of the new Customs Law and its translation into modern and business-friendly systems and procedures. It will support the preparation of a series of implementing regulations and procedures consistent with international standards and accepted good practice approaches. It will also support the functional expansion and further geographical rollout of the Automated System for Customs Data and will strengthen the capacity of the Lao Customs Department to effectively maintain its ICT systems and infrastructure.“Enhanced custom administration and trade facilitation is critical for Lao PDR to be fully integrated into the regional and global market,” said Ms. Keiko Miwa, World Bank Country Manager in Lao PDR. “We hope that the project will assist the Lao Customs Department to play a vital role in furthering the government’s broader trade facilitation and national competitiveness agenda”.The Customs and Trade Facilitation Project forms part of an ambitious and integrated trade program supported by the World Bank in partnership with Australia, the European Union, Germany and Ireland. This includes a related IDA and Multi Donor Trust Fund financed project – the Second Trade Development Facility Project – as well as a National Single Window Non-lending Technical Assistance activity. Show Less -

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2013 – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved US$6.5 million in additional grant financing for the Customs and Trade Facilitation Project in Lao PDR. The grant ... Show More +builds on the achievements of the original International Development Association (IDA) credit of US$6 million, which was approved in 2008.The newly approved financing compliments the Bank’s support for the program which is aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of customs administration and simplifying customs processes and procedures to eliminate duplication, redundancy, reduce transaction costs and time to clear goods. The Customs and Trade Facilitation Project also aims to support government objectives in achieving high rates of economic growth that translate into meaningful poverty reduction, increased transparency and accountability.The Customs and Trade Facilitation Project forms part of an ambitious and integrated country trade program supported by the World Bank in partnership with Australia, the European Union, Germany and Ireland. This includes a related IDA and Multi Donor Trust Fund financed project – the Second Trade Development Facility Project – as well as a National Single Window Non-lending Technical Assistance activity. The proposed additional financing will assist the Lao Customs Department to play a major role in furthering the government’s wider trade facilitation and national competitiveness agenda. This additional grant will focus on providing further support in the key areas that are designed to ensure full and effective implementation of the new Customs Law and its translation into modern and business-friendly systems and procedures. It will support the preparation of a series of implementing regulations and procedures consistent with international standards and accepted good practice approaches. It will also support the development of a sustainable capacity for the Lao Customs Department to train and develop its own personnel. In addition, it will support the further functional expansion and geographical rollout of the Automated System for Customs Data and will strengthen the Lao Customs Department capacity to effectively maintain its ICT systems and infrastructure. Show Less -

Washington, D.C., October 23, 2012—Local entrepreneurs in developing countries are finding it easier to do business than at any time in the last 10 years, highlighting the significant progress that ha... Show More +s been made in improving business regulatory practices across the globe, according to a new report released today by the World Bank and IFC.The report, Doing Business 2013: Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises, marks the 10th edition of the Doing Business series. Over the past decade, these reports have recorded nearly 2,000 regulatory reforms implemented by 180 economies. The reforms have yielded major benefits for local entrepreneurs across the globe. For example:Since 2005, the average time to start a business has fallen from 50 days to 30—and in low-income economies the average has been reduced by half.In the past eight years, the average time to transfer property fell by 35 days, from 90 to 55, and the average cost by 1.2 percentage points—from 7.1 percent of the property value to 5.9 percent.In the past eight years, improvements to simplify tax compliance have reduced the time required annually to comply with the three major taxes measured (profit, labor, and consumption taxes) by 54 hours on average.“Over the years, governments have made important strides to improve their business regulatory environment and to narrow the gap with global best practices,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director, Global Indicators and Analysis, World Bank Group. “While the reforms we measure provide only a partial picture of an economy’s business climate, they are crucial for key economic outcomes such as faster job growth and new business creation.”In the past year alone, 108 economies implemented 201 regulatory reforms that made it easier for local entrepreneurs to do business, the report found. Eastern Europe and Central Asia had the largest share of economies implementing regulatory reforms—with 88 percent reforming in at least one of the areas measured by Doing Business. European economies in fiscal distress are working to improve business regulation as part of an effort to establish a stronger foundation for long-term growth, the report found.Singapore topped the global ranking on the ease of doing business for the seventh consecutive year. Joining it on the list of the top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulation were Hong Kong SAR, China; New Zealand; the United States; Denmark; Norway; the United Kingdom; the Republic of Korea; Georgia; and Australia.Topping the list of economies that registered the biggest improvements in the ease of doing business over the last year were Poland, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Burundi, Costa Rica, Mongolia, Greece, Serbia, and Kazakhstan. About the Doing Business report series Doing Business analyzes regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and protecting investors. The aggregate ease of doing business rankings are based on 10 indicators and cover 185 economies. Doing Business does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors. For example, it does not measure the quality of fiscal management, other aspects of macroeconomic stability, the level of skills in the labor force, or the resilience of financial systems. Its findings have stimulated policy debates worldwide and enabled a growing body of research on how firm-level regulation relates to economic outcomes across economies. This year’s report marks the 10th edition of the global Doing Business report series. For more information about the Doing Business report series, please visit www.doingbusiness.org. Join us on Facebook. About the World Bank GroupThe World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It comprises five closely associated institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Each institution plays a distinct role in the mission to fight poverty and improve living standards for people in the developing world. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org, www.miga.org, and www.ifc.org. Show Less -

Washington, October 1, 2012 -- In developing countries, jobs are a cornerstone of development, with a pay off far beyond income alone. They are critical for reducing poverty, making cities work, and p... Show More +roviding youth with alternatives to violence, says a new World Bank report. The World Development Report 2013: Jobs stresses the role of strong private sector led growth in creating jobs and outlines how jobs that do the most for development can spur a virtuous cycle. The report finds that poverty falls as people work their way out of hardship and as jobs empower women to invest more in their children. Efficiency increases as workers get better at what they do, as more productive jobs appear, and as less productive ones disappear. Societies flourish as jobs foster diversity and provide alternatives to conflict. “A good job can change a person’s life, and the right jobs can transform entire societies. Governments need to move jobs to center stage to promote prosperity and fight poverty,” says World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, "It's critical that governments work well with the private sector, which accounts for 90 percent of all jobs. Therefore, we need to find the best ways to help small firms and farms grow. Jobs equal hope. Jobs equal peace. Jobs can make fragile countries become stable." The report’s authors highlight how jobs with the greatest development payoffs are those that raise incomes, make cities function better, connect the economy to global markets, protect the environment, and give people a stake in their societies. “Jobs are the best insurance against poverty and vulnerability,” says Kaushik Basu, World Bank Chief Economist and Sr. Vice President, “Governments play a vital enabling role by creating a business environment that enhances the demand for labor.” The global economic crisis and other recent events have raised employment issues to the center of the development dialogue. The WDR authors, who processed over 800 surveys and censuses to arrive at their findings, estimate that worldwide, more than 3 billion people are working, but nearly half work in farming, small household enterprises, or in casual or seasonal day labor, where safety nets are modest or sometimes non-existent and earnings are often meager. “The youth challenge alone is staggering. More than 620 million young people are neither working nor studying. Just to keep employment rates constant, the worldwide number of jobs will have to increase by around 600 million over a 15-year period”, says Martin Rama, WDR Director. But in many developing countries, where farming and self-employment are prevalent and safety nets are modest at best, unemployment rates can be low. In those places, most poor people work long hours but cannot make ends meet. And the violation of basic rights is not uncommon. Therefore, the quality and not just the number of jobs is vitally important.The Report advances a three-stage approach to help governments meet these objectives: First, solid fundamentals – including macroeconomic stability, an enabling business environment, human capital, and the rule of law- have to be in place. Second, labor policies should not become an obstacle to job creation, they should also provide access to voice and social protection to the most vulnerable. Third, governments should identify which jobs would do the most for development given their specific country context, and remove or offset obstacles to private sector creation of such jobs.Understanding the particular jobs challenge for a given region or country is essential. Differences in the structure of employment across regions, across genders, and across age groups are striking. For example, 6 out of 7 workers in Eastern Europe and Central Asia are wage earners, but 4 out of 5 workers in Sub-Saharan African are farmers or self-employed. Many more women than men are in non-wage work in low- and lower-middle income countries. Meanwhile, in middle-income countries women are more likely to be wage workers, though too often they earn less than men. Policy priorities are different in agrarian societies and in urbanizing countries. Making smallholder farming more productive is key in the first case, while better infrastructure, connectivity, housing, and city planning are vital in the second. Demography matters too. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 10 million youth enter the labor force every year, but in many middle-income countries the population is aging and in some the labor force is shrinking. Skills and the removal of privilege in access to markets and jobs are needed to tackle youth unemployment. But longer working lives and affordable social protection are needed in aging societies. Focusing on the key features of different country types can help identify more clearly the kinds of jobs that would make the greatest contribution to development in each case. This focus allows for an analysis of the potential tradeoffs between living standards, productivity, and social cohesion in a specific context. It provides clues about the obstacles to job creation and, ultimately, the priorities for policy makers as they identify the most important constraints to job creation and how to overcome them.Policy makers should tackle these challenges by answering such questions as: Should countries build their development strategies around growth, or should they focus on jobs? Can entrepreneurship be fostered, especially among microenterprises in developing countries, or are entrepreneurs born? Are greater investments in education and training a prerequisite for employability, or can skills be built through jobs? Amidst crises and structural shifts, should jobs, not just workers, be protected? Jobs agendas at the country level are connected by the migration of people and the migration of jobs. Policies for jobs in one country can thus have spillovers on other countries – both positive and negative. The report explores whether international coordination mechanisms, such as bilateral migration agreements, could enhance the positives and mitigate the negatives. ”To move jobs center stage, we also need reliable country-level data that is disaggregated and covers more than urban or formal sector jobs,” says Rama. The World Bank Group fosters job growth through its two main channels of support to the developing world -- the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA) -- as well as through the IFC and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. Assistance comes in the form of policy advice, support for private sector development plus loans and programs to advance urbanization, infrastructure and human development (including social protection). Show Less -

WASHINGTON DC, July 3, 2012 — New data showing a two-billion cubic meter increase in flared gas in 2011 over the previous year is a warning that efforts to reduce flaring need to be sustained and even... Show More + scaled up, said officials with the World Bank-led Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership (GGFR).The slight increase in flaring from 138 billion cubic meters in 2010 to 140 bcm in 2011, revealed in latest satellite data, is due largely to increased hydrocarbon production in Russia and shale oil and gas operations in the US state of North Dakota. While not significant when viewed against the longer-term 20% drop in flaring since 2005 — from 172 to 140 bcm — the new increase is a warning sign, World Bank officials said. Gas flaring reductions since 2005 have cut greenhouse gas emissions by a volume equivalent to that emitted by some 16 million cars.“The small increase underlines the importance for countries and companies to sustain and even accelerate efforts to reduce flaring of gas associated with oil production,” said Bent Svensson, manager of the GGFR partnership. “It is a warning sign that major gains over the past few years could be lost if oil-producing countries and companies don’t step up their efforts.”Some of the highlights from the 2011 satellite data on flaring include:Overall, global flaring has increased by 2 bcm, from 138 bcm in 2010 to 140 bcm in 2011.The USA, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Venezuela are the main contributors to this increase. These countries need to step up their efforts in associated gas utilization. The same applies to Iraq.Most of the increased flaring in the USA comes from North Dakota, where there has been an important increase in activity related to shale oil and gas production.Russia still tops the world's flaring countries, followed by Nigeria, Iran and Iraq. The USA is now the fifth flaring country in the world, with some 7.1 bcm of gas flared in 2011.Latest satellite estimates also show some continuous progress in flaring reduction in Nigeria, Algeria, Mexico and Qatar. These countries need to sustain their flaring reduction and gas utilization efforts.“By reducing gas flaring, oil-producing countries and companies are improving energy efficiency and mitigating climate change,” said S. Vijay Iyer, Director of the World Bank’s Sustainable Energy Department. “Instead of wasting this valuable resource, we now need to develop gas markets and infrastructure so the associated gas can be utilized to generate electricity and cleaner cooking fuels.”Inconsistent data and often under-reporting of gas flaring by governments and companies has complicated the global effort to track progress on flaring reduction. GGFR’s cooperation with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to use satellite data aims to improve the reliability and consistency of global gas flaring data. This has now resulted in more consistent national and global estimates of gas flaring volumes from 1995 through to 2011.The GGFR, a public-private initiative of some 30 major oil-producing countries and companies, aims to overcome the challenges for the utilization of associated gas, including lack of regulations and markets for associated gas utilization. GGFR partners’ main objective is to reduce the environmental impact of gas flaring, as well as the waste of a valuable energy source.Global gas flaring, estimated in 2011 at 140 billion cubic meters (bcm), also accounts for some 360 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Eliminating these annual emissions is equivalent to taking some 70 million cars off the road.Note to Editors:The GGFR partners include: Algeria (Sonatrach), Angola (Sonangol), Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Cameroon (SNH), France, Gabon, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia), Kuwait Oil Corporation, Mexico (SENER), Nigeria, Norway, Republic of Congo, Qatar, the United States (DOE), Uzbekistan; BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ENI, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, Maersk Oil & Gas, Pemex, Qatar Petroleum, Shell, Statoil, TOTAL; the European Union, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank Group; Associated partner: Wärtsilä. Show Less -

I am honored to assume the Presidency of the World Bank Group. I do so at a moment that is pivotal for the global economy, and defining for the World Bank as an institution.The global economy remains ... Show More +highly vulnerable. We need to boost confidence in markets and within the private sector. And we need to boost confidence among citizens that our economic system and policies can deliver more sustainable, fair and inclusive economic growth.As a global development institution, the World Bank has an economic and moral imperative to help address risks to global growth, no matter where they emerge. A strong global economy benefits all countries; a weak global economy makes all countries vulnerable. It is urgent that European countries take all necessary measures to restore stability because their actions will impact growth in all regions of the world.Over the coming months, I will be engaging closely with clients, partners and my colleagues in the Bank Group to take stock of the challenges ahead and ensure that the Bank’s strategy is suited to supporting our member countries’ needs.Already, however, several priorities of our work are clear.My immediate priority will be to intensify the World Bank’s efforts to help developing countries maintain progress against poverty in these volatile times.I will work with our clients and partners to ensure that we are creating a new economic firewall: one that protects people in developing countries against shocks. I know from my work in poor communities around the world that, when a crisis hits, and no safety net is in place, the effects can be devastating. The World Bank substantially increased its lending during and after the global financial crisis. We must continue to build more effective and sustainable ways to ensure citizens have basic income protection, and access to education, healthcare and energy. This is also critical for strengthening domestic demand because when people have basic security, they are empowered to be creative and tap their full potential.While short-term crisis management and social protection are naturally a concern in these times, we must capitalize on the opportunities that lie beyond the horizon. Despite the volatility, we must remember that the world has unprecedented resources, knowledge and experience at its disposal. If the international community can use these effectively, we can achieve within a generation goals that for centuries have been a distant dream. We can reduce poverty to levels never seen before, and usher in a time when the majority of the world’s people will be part of a global middle class, enjoying better living conditions and greater opportunities. We can help create the next set of emerging markets, especially in Africa, that will drive global demand and growth. We can accelerate inclusive growth and social progress in places where development has not yet taken hold.The World Bank is uniquely positioned to assist countries build longer-term development strategies through its lending, knowledge and expertise. The World Bank will continue to partner with countries to make smart investments in people, infrastructure and institutions in a fiscally sound and sustainable way. Through the IFC and MIGA, we will continue to support the catalytic role of the private sector, which accounts for almost 90% of jobs in the world. Drawing on the experience of its global shareholders, the World Bank can broker solutions on transnational challenges.Public trust and confidence are invaluable assets for governments and institutions. The Bank Group is already active in promoting transparency in public finances and strengthening governance. This is an increasingly important area of engagement because it drives confidence and decision making amongst investors, businesses and households.I believe the World Bank’s best days are still ahead. The economic success of emerging market economies, the rise of citizen power led by young people and the unprecedented penetration of new technologies are challenging old development paradigms. Thanks to the leadership of Bob Zoellick, the World Bank has moved toward becoming more open and has embarked on an innovative modernization agenda. Strengthening its leadership as the premier development institution will mean continuing to adapt to a world that is changing profoundly.Together, with partners old and new, we will foster an institution that responds effectively to the needs of its diverse clients and donors; delivers more powerful results to support sustained growth and help governments to become more accountable to citizens; prioritizes evidence-based solutions over ideology; harnesses and attracts the best talent; amplifies the voices of developing countries; and draws on the expertise and experience of the people we serve.A central part of my responsibility in the next five years will be to ensure that the Bank’s distinctive strengths are aligned with the needs of a world in transformation and transition. Show Less -

MR. MILLS: Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us for this roundtable. My name is Richard Mills. I know many of you; welcome. ... Show More + I want to set up a couple ground rules to begin with. First of all, we're going to have this session embargoed until the end of the session, so that should keep all the--maybe some of the hurried typing down to a minimum. The other thing I would just ask is that you--when we call on you, just repeat, for the record of the transcript, your name and organization, and then we can go into questions. I handed out a statement and I will turn it over to President Kim. President Kim?MR. KIM: Well, thank you very much for coming and I want to welcome you here. I'm taking over at the World Bank at a pivotal moment, as we said, and we're very encouraged by some of the things that we saw over the last two weeks, what happened at the G20 meeting, the commitment of middle-income countries to continue lending to the IMF at levels that were very encouraging. Also, what happened this past Friday in moving toward a stronger financial and banking union in Europe was all very encouraging. Our mission here at the World Bank is to boost prosperity, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and to eradicate poverty. We have just an outstanding staff. I've been working in developing countries all my life and have known from the ground just how outstanding World Bank staff are. We are prepared to continue the dual mission of boosting prosperity in the world and eradicating poverty and to do so with great energy, especially in this very difficult time. And let me just stop there and ask for questions.MR. MILLS: Okay. Anyone who has any questions? Danny? DANNY XUFENG: Thank you. Danny Xufeng from China Xinhua News Agency. Thank you for all [unclear]. President Kim, today you are in a World Bank tie – a green tie – and you are the first non-Wall Street banker and non-Washington politician to run this agency. How would your background help you to continue modernizing this global agency in this multi-polar world, and [inaudible] your predecessor, will your Chief Economist will also be from a developing country? Secondly, to some observers, you are a good golf player. In your golf bag, you have a “putter” of global and medical experience. But how would you improve your [inaudible] in managing such a big agency as well as [inaudible] of tackling economic and trade issues? Thank you. DR. KIM: Wow. Just a few things. Let me just say that I bring two relevant experiences to the World Bank. First, I've been working in development all my life. I've actually had extensive experience with World Bank employees in the field tackling difficult problems. And so, I feel I share the passion for development and poverty alleviation with the World Bank staff. I come into the organization feeling very close to them in terms of why they came here. I've heard over and over again from World Bank staff that I've met over the past few months, we came into this institution because we have passion for development. I share that with them and I think that's important that the World Bank President has worked on the ground on the issues, many of the issues, that the World Bank tackles.Secondly, many people have noted that the World Bank's greatest contribution may be as a knowledge institution. We have a combination of experience on the ground, and that experience on the ground isn't just being in developing countries, it's actually investing, not only with governments, but in the private sector. So, the World Bank has people who have actually experienced doing projects, bringing resources to the ground. Secondly, the World Bank has enormous amounts of data and information. Let me just take a moment to thank my predecessor, Bob Zoellick. I mean, his openness initiative was revolutionary. It's leading the way for all multilateral organizations to be more open, and I welcome that. It's critically important. It's time to do that. So, we have more data than any other institution about development. Moreover, this is like a huge academic institution. There is a tremendous amount of research and analytical firepower in this organization. So, this combination, on-the-ground experience, data, and analytic capacity is unique to the World Bank. And so, having come to this job from a knowledge institution now helping to run a knowledge institution that has the capacity and has a history of providing critical information where it's needed, I feel that those things have prepared me. Now, as for your golf metaphor, I don't think that there's anybody except maybe Tiger Woods and a few others who do everything well, and the history of this institution is that people have brought to the institution certain experiences and expertise. Let me say that, in my--in the last few months, I have been just extremely impressed with economists, development experts, sociologists, others who are in this institution who bring a huge variety of expertise that will be very helpful as we go forward. So, I certainly don't bring absolutely everything--one of the tools that you might want. On the other hand, no one does, and I feel very confident in our staff, in our leadership, to be able to deal with all of the critical problems that we'll face. Thank you.MR. MILLS: Howard. MR. SCHNEIDER: Howard Schneider, Washington Post. Thank you for doing this. A couple things: First off, on this sort of nuts and bolts of transition, I wonder if you can sort of give us a sense of what you've been doing the last two weeks and specifically who you've been relying at U.S. Treasury, whether you're bringing folks from Treasury over with you to Bank staff. And secondly, you know, one of the things that when you look at President Zoellick's comments over the last year, it's clear he's been very, very concerned with conditions in Europe, and I'm wondering whether you have come to share his concern about that as it might affect the developing world, or whether you feel the Bank's mission really is more on sort of longer-term, systemic, development-type problems rather than the euro crisis.MR. KIM: So, a couple of things. The transition has been run by the President's office here, but also I've been working very closely with people in U.S. Treasury who were working with me during the campaign. So, this is an enormous amount of--this is a huge organization and so there's an enormous amount of information to digest. So, what I've been doing is meeting with almost every single one of the Vice Presidents. I've had multiple meetings with the Managing Directors, with the CFOs. So, over the past two months, what I've been doing mostly is meeting our leadership. So, I can tell you that I'm just extremely impressed with the leadership of the World Bank. Many of them have been in the organization for years and years and years. And again, what's been most exciting is that every single one of them have come here because of the mission. So, I've been reading lots and lots of documents in preparation for the G20. Of course, there were a tremendous number of documents, many of them prepared by World Bank staff, and I've been going through them. Now, in terms of our specific position, President Zoellick brought a series of extraordinary experiences and an expertise to the Bank and I bring, frankly, a different set. So, am I concerned about the euro zone crisis? Of course. I talked about it a little bit in the beginning. I am encouraged by what happened over the past two weeks, but we are monitoring the situation very carefully. The primary mission, I think, of the World Bank in this crisis is to make sure that low- and middle-income countries are protected. Since 2008, we have invested over $300 billion to support lower- and middle-income countries to weather the crisis. So, what are the things that we do? We make sure that children can stay in school, we make sure that health clinics stay open. We've done a lot of work on food security and not just in terms of providing food in times of crisis, but moving toward more sustainable approaches to agricultural development. So, the primary mission, of course, is to just ensure that global growth continues and that, in the process, we support countries to provide basic services that everyone needs. Often, what happens in crises is children get pulled out of school, health clinics close. We've done a lot to make sure those things do not happen. MR. SCHNEIDER: And anybody from Treasury coming over to your staff?MR. KIM: Yeah, well, we—Navjet Dhillon who was a former Bank employee and had worked with Jim Wolfensohn among others had been at Treasury for a while and, with his experience at the World Bank, he'll be joining me in my office.MR. MILLS: Okay, any other questions? Lesley? MS. WROUGHTON: Hello, Lesley Wroughton, from Reuters. I want to get back into the issue of we see today manufacturing in Europe going down, China going down. We've already seen effects on developing countries through trade finance and a tightening of Bank flows. When Mr. Zoellick came in, he immediately increased funding to countries and said that's the way to stop it. I was wondering how the Bank would be positioned currently under the finances to move quickly and to move with such big amounts to help countries if there is this extreme worsening of global conditions. We know that the World Bank's finances may be declining over the next few years. So, the question is, how do you raise resources like that? One of the issues has been raising finances through the World Bank actually offering its services to developed countries, i.e., Greece. I was wondering how your feeling is about that.MR. KIM: Let me say, we've been having lots of conversations about the financial strength of the World Bank, and what I've found is that the Bank is in a very strong position. We've had, over the last few years, a successful IDA replenishment, we've had a capital increase. Bob has done a great job in putting the Bank on very solid ground. Now, we feel prepared to tackle crises as they come forward. Now, of course, it all depends on the scale and the severity of the crisis, but the World Bank is in very sound financial footing. Now, in terms of our work in high-income countries, as a person who has been focused on how to tackle social problems in developing countries my entire life, I am very impressed with the quality of our staff and the range of insights we have on everything from fiscal policy, getting--understanding macroeconomic trends and getting fiscal policy right from country to country to health care to education, all the way down to our International Finance Corporation has been very effective in investing in the private sector in developing countries. So, all the way from fiscal policy down to investments in the private sector, I am very impressed with the expertise that we have of, could that be applicable and useful to high-income countries as well? I think so. Now, you have to understand that we only go into countries when we're asked, but I feel the kind of expertise we have could be relevant in many, many countries in the world, including high-income countries. MS. WROUGHTON: So, you're not ruling out if Greece or the EC asked you to, that you would move--you would go--you would happily help Greece.MR. KIM: Well, I've talked to our staff--and again, my job as a leader is to really understand our staff, our capabilities and what we can do. And my staff feel that they have relevant experience that could add value. And if that's the case, and if we were asked, I would be open to the possibility. IKKI YAMAKAWA: Ikki Yamakawa with Asahi Shimbun. So, [unclear 14:25] little country and the [unclear], emerging countries that are hoping to increase their involvement and contribution, both in power [unclear]. How are you going to [unclear]? And also, secondly, I want to ask you about, you know, [unclear] should come from [unclear] and also how--do you have any will to increase the transparency of the election process within five years of your term?MR. KIM: In terms of middle-income countries and the lower-income countries, you know we are very much involved in both, middle-income and lower-income countries. Our commitment to supporting the lower-income countries through IDA grants and loans and also with expertise. And, in fact and increasingly, the IFC has been making more and more private sector investments in the poorest countries. So our commitment to lower-income countries is unshakeable. Of course, it's a primary part of why we exist. But in middle-income countries, I think it's important to know that more than two-thirds of the people living on less than $2 a day live in middle-income countries. Our mission is about eradicating poverty, so we must remain engaged with middle-income countries. Moreover, in working with middle-income countries, we are learning again so much about how to tackle the most difficult problems, and so we will remain engaged in both, and I think there are very good examples of how we've had successful work in both. Let me just say something about the election. So I was very proud to be part of the first contested election in the history of the World Bank. Issues of share and voice in/and election, these are issues that I look forward to discussing with the Board and with the Governors. These are very important issues and ones that affect all member countries, and it's not for me to decide as President how this will happen. These are issues that will require full discussion, and I look forward to those. JEREMY TORDJMAN: Hi. I'm Jeremy Tordjman. Before leaving office, your predecessor, Mr. Zoellick cancelled a loan made to Bangladesh and I was wondering if you would think that is it an appropriate way to address some of the critics made to the WB especially about corruption.MR. KIM: I've been following the situation closely, and Mr. Zoellick and the senior staff have informed me fully about the decision. The Bank has a sterling record in fighting corruption. The Bank was the first to raise the issue of corruption in the 1990s and has a no-tolerance policy for corruption. The discussions with the government of Bangladesh started in September. Even toward the very end, there were extensions given so that there would be what we would think of as an appropriate response; and not seeing one, we cancelled the bridge project. Now, we're very concerned about the well-being of the poorest people in Bangladesh, but what I must stress is the Bank's position is that we do not tolerate corruption. JEREMY TORDJMAN: Do you think it was appropriate?MR. KIM: Yes. I do think it was appropriate.MR. MILLS: Any other questions? Yes, sir. KAZUHIRO HARUKI: Hi. My name is Kazuhiro Haruki, Kyodo News [unclear]. And Tokyo will host Annual Meetings in October [unclear 18:45]. How [unclear] Annual Meeting and what is your expectation for Japan [unclear]?MR. KIM: So, I'm very much looking forward to my visit to Japan. As you may know, I visited Japan during the campaign and had a wonderful meeting with the finance minister and other leaders there. I have--we're preparing for the meeting. I think it's going to be an important meeting at an important time. I know that Japan has been a very strong supporter of the World Bank from its inception, and we value Japan as a member country very, very much. I think it's important that my first meeting, in fact the first annual meeting, will be held outside the country. It's part of a tradition here at the World Bank, and I think it's an important one.MR. MILLS: Sandrine. SANDRINE RASTELLO: Sandrine Rastello with Bloomberg. So, besides Japan and that trip for the Annual Meetings [unclear], do you plan to get personally involved in certain projects like the IDA replenishment or do you have a planned visit to your [unclear]? And my second question there's been a lot of talk about the World Bank doing too many things and not finding, you know, what it is as an institution. Do you plan to refocus the Bank or do you plan to continue being involved in everything from the environment to education and [unclear 20:28]?MR. KIM: Let me say, I am very--I'm a practitioner, a development practitioner, and I have been for most of my adult life. So, I'm going to take great interest in a wide variety of projects that we work on, and I hope that I can help in the success of some of these projects. In terms of focus, one thing to remember is that we are very much a client-driven organization. In other words, we have to respond to the priorities and the aspirations of our member countries, and that [is] a critical piece of our work going forward. Now, having said that, I think it's also very important to have strategic discussions with not only inside the Bank among our staff but with the Board of Directors and the Governors. These are important questions about where the Bank should focus its energy, where the Bank brings the most value, and how we can organize our activities going forward. So, I think it's critical to have strategic discussions but also critical for us to be responsive to the aspirations of member countries.MR. MILLS: Yes, sir. MR. FERNANDEZ: [Unclear] Fernandez from the Spanish newswire EFE. I wanted to know your views about Latin America, the [unclear]. How can the World Bank help the region?MR. KIM: As you may know, I have worked for many years in Latin America. I've worked in Peru and Chiapas in Mexico. Also visited many, many countries and worked technically on health-related issues. So, I think it's remarkable that the resilience, as you said, during the economic crisis was remarkable and also very encouraging. I think that the support for the poorest countries, of course, will continue through IDA and other mechanisms. But I think it goes back to the issue of high-income countries and what our role might be in some of the high-income countries. There are many situations in which what our member countries want most of all is our technical expertise, and, you know, there are so many sources of capital these days in the world that we know that often that's not going to be our role but that our role will be to provide technical assistance.We have learned an enormous amount from countries like Mexico, for example. Mexico's experience with conditional cash transfers, the expansion of that program in Brazil. These are important lessons for many countries in the world. And so we will continue to engage deeply, of course, in Latin America, the poorest countries through IDA. And the middle-income and emerging countries, we both will provide technical assistance but also look forward to learning from them as they have weathered the last few years.MR. MILLS: Yes, sir. I think we'll take our last question. Okay. I'm Gwang-ik Jang of Maeil of South Korea. There was--you mentioned Korea's success story as a model of success with [unclear]. How does the experience of Korea's economy's success affect your ability to carry on the World Bank [unclear]?MR. KIM: Well, I think, on a very personal level, when I came to this country, many people thought that Korea was--and the word that was used was "a basket case"--impossible for Korea to develop. And the reasoning was--seemed fairly clear: no natural resources. Even--there was even talk of Korea having cultural deficits so that they couldn't develop. And so now, look what happened. What it gives me in tackling this new job is an unshakeable optimism that any country can go down the path of development, and so I bring that optimism with me every day to work. I spoke about it today at a meeting with staff. I think for those of us who are fortunate enough to work in an institution like the World Bank, every day we walk through the door and we read on the wall "Our dream is a world free of poverty," I think that it's critical for every single World Bank employee to bring with them every day the sense of optimism, that no country is a basket case, that we have to work with every single country to try to help them down the path of development, just as--that's been my experience, and I feel that deeply in my bones.MR. MILLS: Okay. We'll take one last question from Jeff.JEFF: Jeff from Financial Times. If I could pull up on a previous question [unclear 25:49] for a bit more. You said that the Bank now has a very strong financial capital position. Is the Bank in position to accelerate lending if, in fact, the global economy does go into a much deeper, prolonged downturn as some of the recent indicators are indicating. And if it is in that position, is that something that you will consider doing or are considering doing [unclear 26:09]?MR. KIM: So the financial position of the Bank, as I said, was very strong. It--you know, this is my first day and it's one of the things that we're going to be talking about. We feel that, especially in lower-income and middle-income countries, we are ready to respond to support those countries.And let me clarify an earlier comment when asked about Greece.We're not talking about the World Bank investing massive amounts of finances in higher-income countries. I think where we feel like we can add value is in the technical support around some of the structural issues that some countries are facing. And so for lower-income and middle-income countries, we're prepared; we're ready to support countries as needed, and of course, as I said, we are monitoring the situation very carefully, and we'll respond as countries come to us to ask for assistance.MR. MILLS: Very good. Thank you all very much. Show Less -

Working with others we've launched an Open Data for Resilience Initiative, a global effort working in 25 countries. An example is haitidata.org, which makes risk assessment data produced followi... Show More +ng the 2010 Haiti earthquake available for anyone to download and use.Similarly, Open Data for the Horn of Africa now facilitates open access to geospatial information, data and knowledge sources about the ongoing response to the drought in the Horn of Africa.My point is simple: Farmers, fisher folk, and others around the world are using data and technology everyday to deal with increasing uncertainty brought on by climate change. In Nepal they are using PDAs – computers that fit into the palm of your hand - to collect data regarding changes in food security situations. In Chile, farmers can use low-cost mobiles to receive SMS messages about weather forecasts, market prices and even the latest cultivation practices.In India, fisher folk can use mobile phones to receive messages about weather forecasts, optimal fishing zones, and market prices. And in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, mobile phones are used to collect data for flood forecasting and forwarded to a central early warning system, with the information then sent out via traditional media.The Search for Solutions – Engaging and Empowering YouthSo that's the technology part of the transformational combo. Where do youth come in?You are the ones who can think out of the box. You are the ones who can take convoluted conference communiques and begin to make them real, not in conference rooms where agreements stumble or disappoint, but on the ground, and in local and virtual communities around the world.And your numbers are growing. In Africa alone, 70 percent of the population is under 30. And there are already more than 400 million cell phone users. That transformative combo of technology and youth is not tomorrow's world. It’s today.Connect4Climate initiativeThe Connect4Climate initiative – also one of the sponsors of tonight’s event – is using the power of partnerships, participation and social media to include the voices of local youth in the global climate change conversation.With a coalition of more than 140 partners and a Facebook community of over a quarter million, Connect4Climate is reaching out to young people – to listen, acknowledge, and respond to their ideas, to help amplify their voice. Across multiple social media channels, Connect4Climate reaches up to 6 million users each week.In the run-up to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Durban last December, Connect4Climate used a combination of social media and a photo and video competition to getAfrican youth aged 13 to 35 to tell their personal climate change stories through photos and videos.340 rural young people in Somalia were trained on climate change and its effects on agriculture, energy, forests, gender, health and water. They were given cameras to document how climate change has affected their lives and these photo stories depicting deforestation, drought, and health issues were entered in the C4C Photo/Video Competition.Youth from all 54 countries on the African continent participated – they want their voices – and their stories – heard. And we need to listen.ConclusionLadies and gentlemen, As the global population heads toward 9 billion by 2050, decisions made today will lock countries into growth patterns that can sustain or destroy our future.We know that economic development during the next two decades cannot mirror the past two: poverty reduction remains urgent, but growth and equity can be pursued without relying on policies and practices that foul the air, the water, and the land. The powerful combination of technology and people power can help us avoid the pitfalls of the past.Over the course of this evening you will hear from others on what they are doing to “swing into action”! It’s an impressive catalogue. Enjoy! Show Less -

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2012 – A software application developed in Argentina that teaches about energy consumption, climate change and the actions needed to reduce carbon emissions took first place in th... Show More +e World Bank “Apps for Climate” competition today. “Ecofacts” was one of 14 finalists from around the world that were celebrated tonight at the Connecting for Climate event at the Newseum in Washington, DC.“From carbon calculators and classroom tools to new ways of visualizing climate data and planning policy responses, the “Apps for Climate” submissions are impressive. These developers rose to the challenge posed by the WB’s Open Climate Data Initiative and have produced some outstanding products,” said World Bank Managing Director Caroline Anstey, who gave the keynote speech at the event.“Apps for Climate” was announced in December 2011 during the United Nations COP-17 climate conference in Durban, South Africa. Developers had until March 16, 2012 to develop and submit their applications, which are now publicly available. A total prize purse of $55,000 was awarded to the finalists.Entries were reviewed by a panel of expert judges, including Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President of Sustainable Development; Juliana Rotich, Executive Director of Ushahidi; Andrew Steer, World Bank Special Envoy for Climate Change; and Patrick Svenburg, Director, Developer & Platform Evangelist in Microsoft’s Public Sector division.The top three winning apps in the “Apps for Climate” competition are:1st Place: Ecofacts, (Argentina, $15,000). Ecofacts teaches users about energy consumption and climate change, by showing how individual actions can translate into large-scale changes at the national level.2nd Place: My Climate Plan (Norway, $10,000). My Climate Plan allows users to create their own hypothetical national plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The program currently focuses on Norway, but could be adapted for other countries.3rd Place: Globe Town (United Kingdom, $5,000). Globe Town shows how countries are connected globally through trade, immigration, or international assistance, along with country profiles of issues such as energy use and climate adaptation.“Winning the Apps for Climate competition is a great honor,” said Andres Martinez, who took first place in the competition. “Ecofacts is an “open source” project, so anyone can access the source code for use in their own tools, or create improvements. In the future, I hope that Ecofacts will be useful to other developers and users alike.”In addition “CC Climate for Children” from Macedonia won in the “Popular Choice” category, and was awarded $5,000. “Climate for Children” is a collection of interactive classroom presentations and games for teaching climate change issues to students. “ClimaScope,” an app from the United Kingdom that visualizes future climate scenarios for planners and policymakers, received the Large Organization Award.“Solving the problem of climate change requires behavior change. People in all walks of life will need to make decisions based on the best available data,” said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President of Sustainable Development, speaking at the ceremony. “Data collected is just data. But data interpreted and visualized becomes something fundamentally more empowering. These apps have the potential to provide knowledge to those who need it to understand how a changing climate will affect their lives.”“These apps demonstrate the potential of how open data can improve understanding and lead to new insights,” observed Shaida Badiee, Director of the World Bank’s Development Data Group. “For example, one app integrates climate models with open data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to show how future forecasts could impact planting and irrigation of major crops around the world.” Show Less -

Kenyan hip hop artist/environmentalist Juliani to kick-off projectWashington, June 28, 2012 – So, what does climate change mean to you? This is the question Connect4Climate (C4C) and MTV will be askin... Show More +g young people from around the world at the launch of "Voices4Climate", a new global photo, video, and music video competition focused on amplifying the voices of youth on the issue of climate change. The launch for the competition will be held tonight, June 28, at an event titled “Connecting for Climate: Technology, Creativity, and Action” at the Newseum in Washington, DC.Creative young people from around the world will be invited to share or sing their personal stories about climate change for the chance to win prizes and receive international recognition at the December 2012 UN Conference on Climate Change in Doha. Music video winners will spend a day with MTV editors in New York or London and have their music videos featured on MTV’s ‘Voices’ platform.“We all have within ourselves the power to be catalysts for change,” said World Bank Managing Director and Keynote Speaker, Caroline Anstey. “This is precisely the idea this competition is getting at. We don’t need - and can’t afford - to wait for others to get things done. Change can begin with just one person – all it takes is you.”"This competition is a great way to use the artistic talents of young people around the world to communicate on such an important issue,” said John Jackson, Vice President of Social Responsibility at MTV Networks International, who will be on hand to kick-off the competition. “MTV is very pleased to be able to encourage entries and to provide creative assistance to the winners."Juliani, Kenya’s tree-planting hip-hop star, who will perform at the event, characterizes his passion for climate change in this way, "When it comes to sustainable development, green economy, those are big words... you have to break them down into something people understand... I do this through my music.” The new competition builds on the success of C4C’s 2011 Africa regional competition. That competition drew over 700 photo and video submissions from every country on the African continent and awarded prizes to 54 winners from 20 African countries. Launched by the World Bank, the Italian Ministry of Environment, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in collaboration with more than 140 global partners in September 2011, C4C is a global partnership program dedicated to climate change communications. Through social media and the web, C4C helps to give voice to local stakeholders that have stories to tell about climate change. In just several months, C4C has created a Facebook community of over 286,000 followers that engage in thousands of interactions per day. Across multiple social media platforms, C4C’s weekly online reach is, on average, between 5 and 6 million. Show Less -

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2012 — Robert B. Zoellick today said he would join the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and the Peterson Institute for International Econo... Show More +mics in Washington DC after he steps down as World Bank Group President on June 30.Zoellick will become the Peterson Institute’s first Distinguished Visiting Fellow as well as also becoming a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.“I appreciate the opportunity to engage with the scholars and practitioners at Harvard’s Belfer Center and the Peterson Institute for International Economics,” said Zoellick. “I hope to work on the intersection of economics and security, applying history to policy questions of today. Both institutions have been at the cutting edge of research and policy development, and I have benefited greatly from both in the past.”As the 11th president of the World Bank, Mr. Zoellick turned around an institution in trouble in 2007, recapitalized the Bank, and expanded financing for the poorest countries following the food, fuel and financial crises of recent years. He modernized the Bank by making it more accountable, flexible, fast-moving, transparent, and focused on good governance and anti-corruption. He has increased representation of developing countries in governance and staffing and encouraged developing countries to set their own priorities rather than have them dictated from the Bank. His record has also been marked by an increased role for the private sector through the bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), which under his leadership has recruited sovereign wealth funds and pension funds to invest in poor countries, especially in Africa.Before his term at the Bank, Mr. Zoellick served as Vice Chairman, International, of the Goldman Sachs Group as well as Managing Director and Chairman of Goldman Sachs’ Board of International Advisors from 2006-2007. Previously, he was Deputy Secretary of State in 2005-2006 and a member of the Cabinet as U.S. Trade Representative from 2001 to 2005.From 1985 to 1993, he served at the Treasury and State Departments in various posts, as well as White House Deputy Chief of Staff. He was the lead U.S. official in the “Two-plus-Four” process of German unification in 1989-90 and served as “sherpa” for the preparation of the G-7/8 Economic Summits in 1991-92.Mr. Zoellick graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College in 1975 and earned a J.D. magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the Kennedy School of Government in 1981. Show Less -

New Approach to Financing Innovations in Food Security and Agricultural Development Unveiled at G20 Summit in MexicoAgResults: Innovation in Research and DeliveryLOS CABOS, Mexico (June 18, 2012) – An... Show More + innovative initiative that will enhance global food security and improve the livelihoods of developing country farmers through prizes and other market-based incentives was announced today by G20 Leaders. With a results-driven funding model that rewards innovators for tackling some of the biggest problems in food security and agricultural development, AgResults addresses global challenges in food security and agriculture by generating market-oriented solutions. The initiative aims to achieve significant improvements in the wellbeing of the poor and vulnerable in developing countries with a fund of up to $100 million, to be administered by the World Bank. The governments of Australia, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are supporting this effort. AgResults uses pull mechanisms to encourage innovation through results-based payments such as prizes that are typically paid out when certain objectives or milestones have been met. Such financing mechanisms have seen success in generating innovation and market-oriented solutions in other domains such as healthcare, and AgResults aims to deliver similar gains in global food security and agricultural development.AgResults was born out of the realization that there is a great need for increased investment in global food security and agriculture, in particular from the private sector. The FAO estimates that world food production must double by 2050 to feed a growing world population, while nearly a billion people suffer from a lack of crucial micronutrients in their diet—a hidden hunger that inhibits the development of children and reduces adult productivity. Recognizing these gaps, leaders at the June 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto committed to exploring innovative, results-focused ways of harnessing private sector innovations in food security and agricultural development in developing countries. This commitment involved a two-year effort by committed partners to develop AgResults, culminating in today’s launch of the initiative in support of the Summit priority of enhancing global food security. AgResults addresses this priority directly through new funding and a focus on bringing new, innovative approaches to bear on global food security issues.In the coming years, AgResults will launch a series of pilots that address some of the biggest problems in global food security and agricultural development. The initiative’s portfolio of pilots will represent a diverse mix of agriculture and food security issues, testing different types of pull mechanisms in different regions globally. The initial set of pilots, focusing on maize production in Sub-Saharan Africa, include:Incentivizing the adoption of on-farm storage technology for smallholder farmers;Encouraging innovative distribution of a breakthrough technology to reduce aflatoxin contamination; andBuilding a market for new vitamin A-enhanced varieties of maize.Additional pilots will be explored in the coming years, potentially including livestock vaccines and fertilizer innovation as well as new ideas related to increasing crop yields, decreasing post-harvest losses, increasing livestock productivity and improving nutrition. Show Less -

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2012 – The global financial crisis of 2008/09 has not sent migrant workers streaming back home, despite worsening employment prospects and anti-immigration rhetoric in some destin... Show More +ation countries, says a new book on migration and remittances, published by the World Bank. In fact, migrants may have mitigated some of the pain of the crisis as they tend to work for lower wages, receive fewer benefits and rely relatively little on the state, says the ‘Migration and Remittances during the Global Financial Crisis and Beyond’ book. “During the crisis, remittances continued to provide a steady source of foreign currency to developing country economies at a time when foreign aid remained flat and foreign direct investment declined sharply,” said Otaviano Canuto, Vice President, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, at the World Bank. Removing restrictions on human mobility may help enhance financial flows among nations and alleviate some of the adverse effect of the crisis, says the book. With migrant workers projected to remit about $399 billion to their home countries during 2012, compared to $372 billion in 2011, remittances are the most tangible link between migration and development. Although many of the 215 million international migrants are facing worsening employment prospects in some destination countries, particularly high-income Europe, their cash support to families in their home countries has remained resilient, posting, in 2009, the only decline in recent memory. Even then, remittances decreased by a modest 5.2 percent, in sharp contrast with the precipitous declines seen in global private capital flows. “The resilience of remittances is good news for developing countries as they remain one of the less volatile sources of foreign exchange earnings, particularly for the less developed countries. At the household level, these cash transfers are, in many cases, the only lifeline for families in the home countries,” said Hans Timmer, Director of Development Prospects at the World Bank. However, despite many years of recording ever-increasing volumes of remittances, leveraging this rather large and growing source of funds for socio-economic development remains a key challenge, with the vast majority of remittances used for maintaining families and for the purchase of consumer goods. The book, which is the first comprehensive study of remittances during the global financial crisis, is a compilation of 45 separate studies that identify and discuss remittance practices across the world and possibilities for the future. Each study is authored by a different expert who analyzes certain countries and certain aspects of remittances, ranging from patterns of remittance flows to usage of remittances received by communities and households. The book is co-edited by Dilip Ratha, Manager of the Bank’s Migration and Remittances Unit; Ibrahim Sirkeci, Professor of Transnational Studies and Marketing at Regent’s College, London; and Jeffrey Cohen, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Ohio State University, USA, who also co-author the book’s first chapter on remittance flows and practices during the crisis. “Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence of return of migrants, even as the financial crisis reduced employment opportunities in the United States and Europe, with many countries, such as Spain, offering financial incentives to encourage migrants to return,” said Sirkeci. Migration, in fact, was a strategic response to the financial crisis. Like any political or environmental catastrophe, the financial crisis caused human insecurity and people in developing countries responded by crossing borders or moving domestically to survive the impact of the crisis. “Remittances have remained resilient and, barring the decline in 2009, have maintained a healthy growth momentum. However, since the book went to press, the global economy continues to experience serious bouts of volatility, which could affect migrant earnings and, hence, remittances,” said Ratha. For receiving countries, a key factor behind the resilience in remittances is the diversification of migrant destinations. Countries in South Asia and East Asia with many migrants in the United States, Europe and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries continued to register increased remittance inflows. One study in the book concludes that only a prolonged global slowdown would cause a decline in remittance flows to India, the largest recipient of remittances in 2011, with $64 billion. In contrast, Latin America and the Caribbean region, whose migrants are concentrated in the United States, suffered a dramatic decline in remittances throughout the financial crisis. Mexico, the world’s third largest recipient of remittances ($24 billion in 2011), saw a significant decline in remittance inflows from the United States during the crisis. A similar strong impact was found in El Salvador. Both cases underline the fact that many Latin American countries were vulnerable to the effects of crisis, with a special impact on the urban youth in these countries, who face more difficult labor market prospects and declining opportunities to migrate. Studies related to the effect of the crisis in the European Union on remittance-receiving countries found that Spain has been the fastest-growing immigration destination for the past decade and is now the fifth largest remittance-sending country, after the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Switzerland. In the East Asia and Pacific region, remittances account for as much as 12 percent of GDP, as in the case of New Zealand and Pacific island economies, while remittances have been keeping the national economy afloat in the Philippines for the past three decades. Also, due to the depreciation of local currencies of many remittance-recipient countries, such as India, Mexico, and the Philippines, migrants from those countries turned to investment-oriented remittances in South Asia and East Asia where goods, services, and assets suddenly became significantly inexpensive and affordable. The book recommends that countries develop policies that reduce restrictions on human mobility and develop programs to facilitate the use of remittances for long-term investments and promoting entrepreneurship. Such changes, tailored to both host and recipient country needs, can strengthen the contribution of remittances to development. Eliminating the complexity of transactions and reducing transaction costs would also help increase the volume of remittances utilizing official channels, to enable many small nations, in particular, to reap the socio-economic benefits of migrant earnings. Show Less -

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2012 – Developing countries should prepare for a long period of volatility in the global economy by re-emphasizing medium-term development strategies, while preparing for tougher ... Show More +times, says the World Bank in the newly-released Global Economic Prospects (GEP), June 2012.A resurgence of tensions in high-income Europe has eroded the gains made during the first four months of this year, which saw a rebound in economic activity in both developing and advanced countries and an easing of risk aversion among investors. Since May 1st, increased market jitters have spread. Developing and high-income country stock markets have lost some 7 percent, giving up two-thirds of the gains generated over the preceding four months. Most industrial commodity prices are down, with crude and copper prices down by 19 and 14 percent, respectively, while developing country currencies have lost value against the US dollar, as international capital fled to safe-haven assets, such as German and U.S. government bonds.So far, conditions in most developing countries have not deteriorated as much as in the fourth quarter of 2011. Outside of Europe and Central Asia and the Middle-East and North Africa, developing country credit default swap (CDS) rates, a key indicator of market sentiment, remain well below their maximums from the fall of 2011.“Global capital market and investor sentiment are likely to remain volatile over the medium term – making economic policy setting difficult. In this environment, developing countries should focus on productivity-enhancing reforms and infrastructure investment instead of reacting to day-to-day changes in the international environment,” said Hans Timmer, Director of Development Prospects at the World Bank.Increased uncertainty will add to pre-existing headwinds from budget cutting, banking-sector deleveraging and developing country capacity constraints. As a result, the World Bank projects that developing country growth will slow to a relatively weak 5.3 percent in 2012, before strengthening somewhat to 5.9 percent in 2013 and 6.0 percent in 2014. Growth in high-income countries will also be weak, 1.4, 1.9 and 2.3 percent for 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively – with GDP in the Euro Area declining 0.3 percent in 2012. Overall, global GDP is projected to rise 2.5, 3.0 and 3.3(1) percent for the same period.This baseline scenario remains the most likely outcome. However, should the situation in Europe deteriorate sharply no developing region would be spared. Developing Europe and Central Asia is especially vulnerable because of its close trade and financial ties with high-income Europe, but the world's poorest countries will also feel the fall out – especially countries that are heavily reliant on remittances, tourism or commodity exports or that have high-levels of short-term debt.“Where possible, developing countries need to move to reduce vulnerabilities by lowering short-term debt levels, cutting budget deficits and returning to a more neutral monetary policy stance. Doing so will provide them with more leeway to loosen policy, should global conditions take a sharp turn for the worse,” said Andrew Burns, Manager of Global Macroeconomics and lead author of the report.Regional HighlightsGrowth for the East Asia and Pacific region is on a moderately easing trend, with GDP gains for the region dropping to 8.3 percent in 2011 from 9.7 percent in 2010. The recent deterioration in global financial conditions is expected to add to pre-existing headwinds, including relatively weak demand from the high-income world, and a slowing phase in China to moderate regional growth to 7.6 percent in 2012, before broader global recovery lifts exports and growth for the region in 2013 to 8.1 percent, easing to 7.9 percent in 2014. China’s GDP is expected to accelerate from 8.2 percent in 2012 to 8.4 percent by 2014.Notwithstanding the economic downturn in the Euro Area in the fourth quarter of 2011, developing Europe and Central Asia posted strong (5.6 percent) growth in 2011, driven by robust domestic demand and good harvests in countries such as Russia, Romania and Turkey. However, severe weather conditions in early 2012, capacity constraints in some countries, deleveraging by European banks, and the renewed turmoil in high-income Europe are projected to slow regional GDP growth to 3.3 percent this year, before a modest recovery begins with growth firming to 4.1 and 4.4 percent in each of 2013 and 2014.Growth in the Latin America and the Caribbean region eased to 4.3 percent in 2011, from 6.1 percent in 2010, due to the pronounced slowdown in the region’s larger economies. In Brazil, GDP slowed sharply to 2.7 percent in 2011 (7.5 percent in 2010), as investment growth and private consumption eased. The region’s short-term outlook is clouded by a weak external environment, and capacity constraints in select economies. Regional GDP is expected to decelerate to 3.5 percent in 2012, firming to 4.1 percent and 4 percent in 2013 and 2014, respectively, while growth in Brazil is projected to remain below potential at 2.9 percent in 2012, before accelerating to 4.2 percent in 2013 and 3.9 percent in 2014.Uncertainty, volatility, and political change continue to characterize conditions in the Middle East and North Africa region. Aggregate GDP grew by 1 percent in 2011, down from 3.8 percent in 2010. Regional growth is projected to remain weak at 0.6 percent for 2012, mainly reflecting the influence of sanctions on growth in Iran, and continued GDP declines in Syria and Yemen. As these elements fade in importance, growth for the region should step up to 2.2 percent in 2013 and 3.4 percent in 2014. Egypt’s economy is projected to move out of negative territory to 1.4 percent growth in 2012, rising to 4.6 percent in 2014. Growth is also expected to pick up strongly in Jordan and Lebanon, while oil prices, which are projected to average near $107/bbl in 2012, will benefit the region’s oil exporters.Growth in South Asia slowed to 7.1 percent in 2011, from 8.6 percent in 2010, as headwinds from the Euro Area crisis caused a steep deceleration in exports and a reversal of portfolio inflows. Growth in India was particularly weak due to monetary policy, stalled reforms, and electricity shortages, which, along with fiscal and inflation concerns, cut into investment activity. Policy uncertainties, fiscal deficits, entrenched inflation, and infrastructure gaps will continue to weigh negatively on investment activity and are expected to limit regional growth to a relatively modest 6.4 percent in 2012, 6.5 percent in 2013, and 6.7 percent in 2014. India will see growth (measured at factor cost) increasing to 6.9, 7.2 and 7.4 percent in fiscal years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively.Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa remained robust in 2011 at 4.7 percent. Excluding South Africa, growth in the rest of the region was stronger, at 5.6 percent, making it one of the fastest growing developing regions. Higher commodity prices and improved macroeconomic and political stability in recent years has supported increased private investment flows to the region, with promising prospects in the medium term. As global demand firms and domestic demand remains robust, regional growth is expected to strengthen to 5 percent in 2012, 5.3 percent in 2013 and 5.2 percent in 2014.(1)Using purchasing power parity weights, global growth would be 3.3, 3.9 and 4.2 percent for 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively. Show Less -